Colby

Amanda Kimmelfound herself the latest victim of Russell on the last episode of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.

In a new interview, the 25-year-old three time player of Survivor speaks out on her catfight with Danielle, what she thinks of Candice’s flipping, and her thoughts on Russell. She also reveals she is done with Survivor for good.

TVGuide.com: As you entered that tribal council, what did you think your chances were of going home?
Amanda Kimmel: I knew they were good because a lot of talk happened before the tribal council, like Russell pulled Candice aside, and then I pulled her aside after that, and then he’d pull her back and it was like a tug of war between me and Russell with Candice. I knew there were good odds that I was going to home. But I really did think that Candice was going to vote with us, just because I really tried to explain the benefit of her voting that way instead of just saying she had to save me.

TVGuide.com: Why do you think Candice flipped to Russell’s side?
Amanda: I think Russell got in her head, to be honest. I think he told her he wanted to be in the final two with her or something and she bought it. Candice and I had a rough relationship at the beginning of the game. We didn’t like each other, we didn’t trust each other and then we kind of fought everything out and I thought we had a really solid bond, so I was surprised that she, even with Sandra wanting to vote with us, wanted to go with the Villains … Candice had a plan and I didn’t want to do the plan and that was another reason why that happened … I think she was nervous with all the power Russell had over people. I think she wanted to be the first one to switch over.

TVGuide.com: Obviously one of the big moments was the fight between you and Danielle for the clue. What was going through your mind at that time?
Amanda: I knew that my team was going to be toast if I didn’t find that. I’ve never heard any rules over the clues, because this is really the first time they’ve done this, so I seriously thought that whoever had it, had it. Like anyone can see it, anyone can have it. I don’t know what the exact rule is, so I didn’t know that the first person is that one that has it. I thought anyone could have it. So I was like, why not just take it? If I don’t, we’re toast, and Colby’s here, so it’s two against one, so we might as well just try it. I grabbed it and I should have just ran. I wanted to run to the bathroom, lock the door, read it and get rid of it, but that didn’t happen. Colby obviously didn’t help me. He made me feel so bad about it.

TVGuide.com: How does it feel to be the first person to reach 100 days on? If they asked, would you play Survivor again?
Amanda: No, my Survivor career is over. I’m really proud that I went over 100 days. I never thought I would do anything like this in my whole life … but I mean I wouldn’t come back. It takes a long time to get over. It’s hard to explain it, but it’s mentally and physically really hard on your body and I don’t want to put myself through it again.

TELL US: SHOULD COLBY HAVE BACKED AMANDA WHEN SHE TOOK THE CLUE FROM DANIELLE?

In what is being described as the first blindside of the season, Cirie Fields was surprisingly voted out of her Survivortribe when her fellow alliance member J.T. flipped sides.

Most people seem to think this was both a smart and brave move on JT’s part, but how does the proclaimed “puppet master” feel about being ousted? In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cirie opens up on her feelings on being voted out, on whether the show host Jeff Probst influences voting, and what she would have done differently. Some excepts are below –

I want to start where it all ended for you: Tribal Council. Were you cringing the entire time Probst went on an on about the idiocy of voting off strong players?
Oh my God! Was I?!? I try not to react when Jeff makes his comments because everyone’s watching, everyone’s listening, and I don’t want to influence any vote one way or the other. And I’m trying to not let what he says influence the votes one way or the other — but absolutely! We sit on these little tree stumps. After Tribal was over when I got up I don’t know if you saw that toothpick fall from right under, but I literally was clenching my behind the whole time, like, “Please, Jeff, just move on to something else!” He was going exactly against why I was telling them we should vote out Tom, so yeah, that was a real clencher for me.

Did you know it was J.T. that voted you off?
No, I wasn’t sure who it was. I felt like Rupert, Amanda, and James were pretty much going to stick to the plan, but you never know. I couldn’t tell. I knew Tom was talking to J.T. a lot and I never trusted J.T. I always said to Amanda, “Are you sure about J.T.?” because I could see J.T. playing. So it was hard for me to figure out which one flipped, but I wasn’t really that surprised.

You take a pretty clinical, strategic viewpoint of everything. So how did you feel about how personal James was getting with Stephenie at that Tribal?
Oh, boy. I like both of them and I even said to James after that Tribal was over, “Was it necessary?” I know this game gets your blood boiling and I know everyone is there to try to win, but I think James’ lack of ability to articulate how he feels made him come across more brutal than was necessary. James will be the first to admit he doesn’t do the social thing, and not having experience in the social aspect and being able to speak to people and get your point across without coming off like a brute, I think kind of hurt him.

You’ve had some time now to sit back and replay everything. If you could jump in Mark Burnett’s magic Survivor time machine and go back and change one thing about how you played, what would it be?
I think I would have tried to spend more time with J.T. and make him feel comfortable and convince him that he wouldn’t’ have been my target later on.

TELL US – WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE LATEST SURVIVOR EPISODE? DID JT DO THE RIGHT THING BY JOINING FORCES WITH TOM AND COLBY? IS RUSSELL PLAYING SMARTLY?